Ritualist (Witch Archetype)
An archetype based upon the mirror witch. Skills A ritualist does not gain Heal (Wis) or Intimidate (Cha) as class skills; instead, she gains all Knowledge (Int) skills as class skills. Grimoire (Su) At 1st level, a ritualist creates a direct link to the power of her patron. She chooses a patron as normal, but instead of gaining a familiar that serves as the conduit to her patron, she uses a grimoire (a book worth at least 10 gp). This grimoire teaches her magic and acts as a repository of spells. The grimoire is essentially an immobile familiar. The ritualist can activate it with a minute-long ritual that calls the patron to manifest itself through the book. While the connection is open, she can prepare spells, add new spells to the grimoire, and use the grimoire’s special abilities. In place of the boost granted by an ordinary familiar, the grimoire grants the ritualist a +2 bonus on Spellcraft checks so long as the ritualist is able to reference her grimoire. The grimoire can’t be used for abilities that require the presence of a familiar, such as the blight hex. If the grimoire is destroyed, the ritualist can replace it 1 day later through a special ritual, attuning a new grimoire to her patron. The ritualist must purchase or procure a new, suitable book and spend 500 gp per witch level she has. The ritual takes 8 hours to complete, and when it is finished, the ritualist establishes a new connection with her patron and loses access to spells stored in the previous grimoire, as normal for a lost witch’s familiar. As the ritualist progresses in level, the grimoire’s defenses increase, and the connection between it and the ritualist becomes stronger, allowing the patron to manifest more of its personality — see the Grimoire section below. This ability replaces witch’s familiar. GRIMOIRE Instead of using the familiar abilities table on page 83 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, use the table below to determine the strength of a ritualist’s grimoire. Hardness As the connection between the witch and her grimoire becomes more powerful, so does the hardness of the book, making it more difficult to damage. This value is the hardness of the grimoire. Hit Points The base hit points of a ritualist’s grimoire are based on what kind of book she chooses. A typical book suitable to be a grimoire has 4 hit points. The grimoire gains the listed hit points in addition to the book’s normal hit points, and the hit points increase as the link between the witch and her grimoire strengthens. Intelligence A patron is a powerful and unknowable entity, able to see great distances and offer sage council, but the power it manifests through a grimoire is proportional to the link the grimoire has with the ritualist. This column indicates the effective Intelligence score of the grimoire as the witch progresses in level. The grimoire is not a creature, and nothing can increase it’s Intelligence score above the listed value. Special As a ritualist increase in level, her grimoire grants her additional powers as indicated on the table. Fount of Knowledge (Su) A ritualist’s grimoire is inherently magical and never seems to run out pages though it never changes size. A ritualist can add spells to her grimoire in the same way a wizard adds spells to his spellbook, following the same gold cost for the right materials. The grimoire can also learn spells directly from another witch's familiar. With the grimoire's help, a ritualist can use the spellbooks, formulae books and other similar magical texts to both copy spells from the witch list and as part of her research. Seek Guidance (Ex) Whenever the ritualist consults with her patron, she can spend 10 minutes instead of the usual 1 minute and attempt a single Knowledge check. She gains a +2 insight bonus on any Knowledge check she attempts during such a consultation. Esoteric Insight (Ex) Each day, when a ritualist consults with her grimoire, the patron can impart a few words of cryptic advice about the witch’s future which appear in red ink in the margins of her grimoire. While the advice is often obscure when first read, they nearly always make sense to the witch at just the right moment to aid her in dealing with the threats of the day. Once per day, after the witch receives this advice, she can gain one of the following benefits without taking an action: gain a +2 insight bonus on a saving throw she is about to attempt; gain a +4 insight bonus on a Spellcraft or Use Magic Device check she is about to attempt; or immediately retry a failed Knowledge check. She doesn’t choose which benefit she gains while consulting the grimoire; instead, she does so when she would be about to roll a saving throw or appropriate skill check, or fails a Knowledge check. Specialized Knowledge (Ex) The ritualist chooses a number of Knowledge skills equal to the grimoire’s Intelligence modifier (and chooses more as the grimoire’s Intelligence modifier increases). When the witch consults her patron with seek guidance for a Knowledge skill of one of the chosen types, the insight bonus increases by an amount equal to the grimoire’s Intelligence modifier. For example, at 5th and 6th levels, she gains a +4 insight bonus on a chosen Knowledge skill instead of the normal +2. Greater Insights (Ex) The number of times per day that the ritualist can use esoteric insight increases by an amount equal to the Intelligence modifier of the grimoire. Furthermore, she can expend a use of esoteric insight to increase her caster level by 1d4 as part of casting a spell. Magic Circle (Sp) By consulting with her patron for 10 minutes, the ritualist can expend a single use of esoteric insight to cast a magic circle against any alignment as a spell-like ability. If the magic circle is used to bind an outsider, the ritualist uses her Intelligence instead of Charisma to set the DC to keep the called creature within the circle. Esoteric Research (Ex) Many ritualists are drawn to unknown power that must be studied, and her grimoire is an eager and willing study partner. So long as the ritualist is able to consult her grimoire, any checks required to discover, learn, or create an occult ritual have their DCs reduced by 5. Any checks required to research and learn an outsider’s true name are likewise reduced by 5. If the ritualist fails a skill check made while researching a spell by 5 or more, she does not lose a day of progress. Ritual Casting (Su) The ritualist’s patron has manifested strongly enough within the grimoire that the grimoire is able to act as a secondary caster for ritual spells. For this purpose, the grimoire’s caster level is considered to be equal to 1/2 the witch’s level + the grimoire’s Intelligence modifier. While the grimoire cannot make any skill checks itself, it does bestow a +2 circumstance bonus to any skill check made to complete a ritual, even if it is not acting as a secondary caster.